Update, Part 2

After about a week of this situation, where I was assigned to different divisions each day, the entire system was changed for us. Instead of being assigned to a particular job, we were assigned to a particular division (location), where we would work each day. This meant that our mission would be based on whatever the needs of our division were, and our job could vary day to day accordingly.

My assigned division was 13 and 14, where I was partnered with an O'Briens representative who was contracted through BP, and assigned to a Chief who was my supervisor. Division 14 consisted of several islands covered with tens of thousands of pelicans, seagulls, and other birds. These islands, which were miles away from land, were a sanctuary to these birds, and were under imminent threat of destruction from the oil. Our job in Division 14 was to monitor these islands and make sure they were sufficiently protected. When we started in 14, these islands were already boomed off, but the boom was tangled and weathered. We had an assigned work crew who would go in and fix up what needed maintenance, and deploy new boom where needed.

Division 13 was part of our jurisdiction too, but there was less for us to do in that area. We had one small section of the bay where there was a collection of oyster beds, and this area was boomed off as well. Other than that, Division 13 was viewed as a low priority compared to some of the much more environmentally sensitive areas of the other divisions. Most of our days were spent focusing on Division 14, with just a little bit of reconnaissance in 13.
However, our job changed again quite a bit after about a week. The command decided to pass off Division 14 to another group, and kept us focused solely on 13. Suffice it to say, our job turned from largely one of protection to largely reconnaissance. As I said, we had just one section of 13 where we were allocated to place boom. But doing maintenance even on this section became impossible after our work crew was reassigned to another division as well. At this point, our job consisted of long trips across the bay all day, surveying and reporting any new oil we observed coming into our area.

At some point, probably about a month into my tour, weather became a serious issue impeding our ability to get any work done. Tropical Storm Alex formed near the southern region of the Gulf, and the question was whether it would hit us head on. We were prepared for evacuation if it headed our way, but it veered to the west toward Texas and Mexico. That didn't stop us from feeling some of the effects, however. For several weeks, due to Alex and other various thunderstorms throughout our area, we had many days of severe lightning storms which kept us on the docks all day. This hurt our ability to make progress; in fact, it reversed our progress because the storms tore apart boom we already had laid out. We were right in the middle of hurricane season, and of course the biggest fear was that a major storm would sweep through the Gulf and bring all the oil up to us a lot quicker than it already was coming.


We continued doing the best we could with what we had, and although our supplies and manpower were limited, we were providing a valuable service nonetheless. We made several reports of oil that had gone unnoticed in varying areas, and were able to ensure that the birds and other wildlife in our division stayed safe.

To be continued.

Update, Part 1

It has been a long time since my last update. In fact, I have not been on this blog in the year 2010. When I started this website, the plan was for it to motivate me to get more involved in the news by commenting on it frequently. Clearly, I have not been doing that.

Over the summer I was activated with the Coast Guard for a two month tour in Louisiana in response to the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion in April. Before I left, I had planned on keeping a journal during my time there and updating it frequently. Alas, I did not stick to that plan either. The days were quite long and busy, and when I got finished the last thing I was thinking about doing was writing what I had just done. But I am back home now, and the events are still fresh in my mind, so I can give a good overall vision of what I saw down there.

I departed for Louisiana on the evening of May 28th. I arrived in New Orleans the next morning, Saturday, at 9am. Upon checking in at the in-processing hotel, I was told by the Coast Guard representation that I would begin indoctrination on Monday, so to enjoy the rest time over the weekend. On Monday morning, I dressed up in uniform and hopped on a bus which took a group of about 50 of us over to the Coast Guard station just outside of New Orleans, where we were to begin JITT - "Just In Time Training". This consisted of all the medical/dental/administrative items that are required to be taken care of before starting any period of active duty. This whole first day was devoted to these items, which took all day. We got back to the hotel about 5 pm that evening. The next morning, we returned to the same place, but this time to participate in Hazardous Waste Operations refresher training, which was an 8 hour version of the usually 40 hour course. After passing the training, we were told that sometime either that night or the next day we would be given our assignments. I was called about 10:30 that night and notified that I would be headed to Venice, Louisiana. I had a lingering idea that this was going to be where I'd be assigned, as it is the closest landmark to where the sunken rig was located, and a lot of people were being assigned there out of New Orleans.

The next morning, I headed to Venice. Initially, I was told that I, along with a group of five or six others, were going to take a bus to Venice. However, after about twenty minutes on the road, we were called back to the hotel and told to arrange to get rental cars. They split us into teams, and since I was ineligible to get a rental car because I hadn't yet received my Government travel card, my partner had to rent one. We drove the two hour ride to Houma first, where we checked in to the Incident Command Post, filled out all in-processing paperwork, received our badges, and were given any last minute instructions and tips. Finally at about 4 in the afternoon, after a day which started at 7 in the morning, we headed to Venice. We had to back track a large part of our journey to Houma, and after a two hours ride we arrived at what was going to be our home for the next two months.

My partner and I were assigned as roommates, and after checking in at the Venice Coast Guard Station, were given keys to our room at Venice Marina. As we drove onto the property, we noticed lots of large houseboats and houses along the shore with great views of the water. Unfortunately, our home was at the far end of the Marina, and we were given a trailer. We each had our own room, however, and we had all the basic necessities, save for a washer and dryer. Doing laundry was difficult because we always had to go to other people's houseboats who were fortunate enough to have laundry facilities available. Living in a trailer wasn't the most luxurious or enjoyable experience, but you learn to make do with what you have, and appreciate the fact that it could always be worse (one of my colleagues who lived a few trailers down had a sewage leak under his trailer and had to be moved out, not before waking up to a cockroach crawling across his face).

The next morning we started our first official day at work. We arrived at the Safety Brief at the BP Compound site at 5:45am. Mornings during this tour consisted of a series of briefs. You had the Safety Brief at 5:45, the Coast Guard brief at 6:00, the Operations brief at 6:30, and then each particular division would break out into their own briefs at 6:45. Actually, this schedule got re-worked several times through my time there, but always with the briefs starting earlier and lasting longer.

When I first arrived, there were three areas of work for the Coast Guard on site: Protection, Reconnaissance, and Recovery. Protection was tasked with protecting the most environmentally sensitive areas by laying out boom before oil could encroach on the land. Reconnaissance was involved with riding in boats all along the waters in our jurisdiction and reporting to the Command any new oil sighted. Recovery was the second half to Protection's job: recovering boom, oil, and other materials after the boom had worn out and was no good.

I was assigned to the Protection Division. At the time, you would be assigned to a particular job (Protection, Recon, Recovery) and that's what you would do, every day, wherever that needed to be done. A few weeks later, the system was changed so that you were assigned a designated area, and you would do whatever jobs needed to be done there. The first few weeks were pretty exciting, because I was seeing new things each day. I was assigned to a specific task force, so I got to know all the people I was with, but we were doing new jobs at new places every day. Surprisingly, I saw almost no oil during this time, because it hadn't yet reached the areas we were assigned to protect. However, one day I was assigned to Myrtle Grove, a marina about thirty miles north of Venice which had been hit by heavy pockets of oil. This was my first experience responding to oil during this tour. I was assigned a new task force for the day, and was the only Coast Guardsman attached to them. We spent the day laying out new boom as well as repairing and replacing old boom all over our area, called Hospital Bay. We noticed a few severely oiled pelicans, and called Fish and Wildlife to pick them up and take them to Fort Jackson, where they would be taken care of.

To be continued.